One of the improvements in Excel 2007 is the rebuilt Chart Tool. “It used to be so easy” to create charts in Excel, just highlight an area of cells and click Create Chart, and voilá. Well it still is – it only looks a bit different. In this mini-tutorial I’m using an example from work, tho the names, and numbers have been altered.

The Mission

At work we have tightened security on mobile Exchange Synchronization. A security policy has been set which requires that we ask each of the 2.500 users to read the new guidelines. Failure to accept the new policy guidelines will result in the user loosing access to the server. To be able to monitor the progress of this work (making sure we know that every user has read and accepted) I was asked to create a chart to graphically display the weekly progress, number of emails sent, number of accepts etc. The challenge is that we only record names, and dates for each occurrence (notice sent, reply received, account open or closed).

Never heard of Building Blocks? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. In Fact I just recently learned about it myself. Building Blocks first appeared in Word 2007 and has been a well hidden gem ever since.

What are Building Blocks ?

Building Blocks are re-usable document elements that you normally would have to copy from another document or re-create on a regular basis and put it in a drag-and-drop library. It can be used to save design elements like logos, headers, signatures, text you type often etc. etc.

A common problem for many Outlook users is that new emails seem to be stuck in the outbox. To get the emails sent, you then have to press Send/Receive (F9) button. Most users (me included) prefer to have the emails delivered as soon as we press Send, not collect them and send all later on.

Here are some things to try if your sent mail is getting stuck in the outbox (depending on our Outlook version, these may vary):